Queens CUNYs launch STEM program

Queens College is partenringwith LaGuardia Community College to offer STEM degrees. Photo via Queens College

By Rachel Vick

Two Queens CUNYs are teaming up to create a new science, technology, engineering and mathematics program.

With $4.6 million in federal funding, LaGuardia Community College and Queens College are creating the Queens STEM Academy to help support Hispanic and Latino students from the borough earn degrees in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics field.

“We are thrilled to partner with Queens College on this initiative and are grateful for the U.S. Department of Education’s support that is making the Queens STEM Academy possible,” said LaGuardia President Kenneth Adams.

“Jobs in STEM, where there’s high demand and financial rewards, are possible for so many of our Queens residents,” he added. “Q-STEM will provide students the education and support they need to succeed, while addressing employers’ urgent calls for an expanded workforce of well-prepared STEM experts.”

The program seeks to boost the number of LaGuardia STEM graduates who transfer to QC to earn their bachelor’s degrees.

Faculty exchanges and curriculum review will take place between the two colleges, and a learning community cohort model will be launched. Over the five-year grant term, the schools will work to implement joint degrees and shared transfer advisement.

The grant is from the U.S. DOE’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions STEM and Articulation Program; Hispanic and Latino students make up 48 percent of the student population at LaGuardia and 28 percent of the student population at Queens College.

“As New York looks to rebound from the pandemic, there will be opportunities in every sector of the economy for people with this kind of education,” said QC President Frank Wu. “Strengthening the STEM pipeline in the borough will benefit everyone.”